Koscielny suffers injury in Arsenal’s Europa League win

Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny picked up an injury in Thursday’s Europa League victory over AC Milan, lasting only 10 minutes at the Emirates Stadium following a collision with another player.

He limped out of the game early on but manager Arsene Wenger says the French international will return sooner rather than later, which is good news for Arsenal and the supporters.

Koscielny started alongside Shkodran Mustafi but was replaced by Calum Chambers in the early stages of the match.

Due to the international break, Arsenal don’t have another match until April, and the manager’s reassurance on the 32-year-old’s injury suggests he will be in contention to start when Arsenal’s next game comes around.

“He got a kick on his back,” said Arsene Wenger, reports the club’s official website. “We don’t think it’s bad but he cramped up and he couldn’t go on.”

Koscielny, who joined Arsenal from Lorient in 2010, has made 28 appearances in all competitions this season. The 32-year-old was omitted from the squad in the first six Europa League games but has made consecutive appearances after Arsenal reached the last-16.

The Gunners beat Milan 5-1 on aggregate over the two legs and are into the final eight of the competition. Given they’re 12 points adrift of Liverpool in the race for a top-four spot, the Europa League is all Arsenal have to reach the Champions League and ensure this season doesn’t end up trophyless.

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Crippy can be found on Twitter (@CrippyCooke).
He is a sports journalist who has written for the Independent, Bleacher Report, Huffington Post, Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph among others.
Crippy treats football gossip with a dash of cynicism and loves tearing apart outlandish rumours.